A man is strapped to a table. It is made clear this is a private execution of a prisoner taking place. Two people, one in a lab coat (Tarleton) and one in a suit (Clinton) are watching several scientists shuffling about from an adjoining room. They have several screens showing vitals and other important information. They give the go-ahead to the folks in the room to proceed with the experiment.

The prisoner begins to react to the experiment (skin color, physical size, whatever). Prisoner kills one or two people in the room. Prisoner is executed immediately through some method. Suit congratulates Lab Coat and says "Now control them" and walks out of the room.

This is meant to show the ruthlessness they possess, life is meaningless, and the beginning stages of the experiments. Obvious evil. The fact that there are these types of reactions to the experiments informs the audience that they are not on the up and up and creating the necessity for guinea pigs. This also shows the need for control over the prisoners after the experiments.

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Carl Lucas is a down on his luck neighborhood guy, trying to do the right thing, but stuck in a big gang that's on the verge of war.

Buddy Willis Stryker, street name Diamondback, is his major negative influence, with Reva Connors as his girlfriend.

When Reva is threatened, Lucas tries to get out with her, but Diamondback sets him up and he ends up in prison.

Me thinks robbery gone bad. Several people die. Diamondback pulls the trigger but leaves Carl Lucas to take the fall. Whole thing was a setup. Public defender sucks.

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He gets saved from prison riff raff/guards by Dirk Garthwaite and Dr. Elliot Franklin, along with Brian Caulsky and Henry Camp form a bit of a clique.

Carl Lucas gets saved during a prison riot by those guys. This is where we see some of the low powered guys deployed to end the riot. Minor powers like increased strength, quickness, impenetrable skin. Maybe something a little more exotic but weak. Easy stuff. They are wearing collars.

This shows advancements in the experiment process and control over the test subjects. These guys can be shown getting perks in another scene. Lucas and Crew take notice of these guys during the riot and their special treatment. Maybe Dr. Franklin can inform the group of things he has figured out about these special inmates.

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We learn this prison is run by AIM who does a bunch of shady illegal stuff but has all the right people paid off. Including, voluntary experiments for prison perks and maybe even a parole hearing.

We also see a lot of other AIM experiments/developments, including the MODOK system, the asgardian 'crowbar' and control collars that set up for later things in the film and MCU at large.

Lucas and Crew start asking the right questions and get on the prisons radar as potential test subjects. Lucas is recruited and suggests the Crew to join him... all part of the plan.

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In the process of volunteering, Carl meets Director George Tarleton, a strange little man with a lot of issues, and a personal interest in him.

He also meets Dr. Noah Burnstein, a decent guy, holdover from WWII who Tarleton keeps under wraps.

The experiment/power is explained as cell regeneration that removes the strength/durability cap for the human body, and offers a healing factor as well.

Carl, and the rest of the Wrecking Crew undergo the experiment, but Carl finds out they are planning to escape and exact their vengeance upon society "and they can't even report us escaped or else they get investigated." So, before the control collars can be locked onto them, Carl foils their escape, but still takes advantage of their plan, to go save Reva.

I think Lucas and Crew should all be planning to escape. Lucas has a different idea and uses it for only himself. The reporting escaped or investigated thing works perfectly. Lucas wanted to leave the gang scene, not continue in it so ditching the Crew in jail builds this character arc.

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Escaping, Carl finds himself back in New York, manages to catch a glimpse of Iron Man or Captain America in action. Puts on a cheesy yellow outfit and manages to stop a shoot out with the cops. The hostage thanks him, and offers to write him a check. "Make it out to Ca...." looks around at cops nearby. "Make it out to Luke Cage..." Looking at the check inspires him...

Next time we see him, he's coming into his old neighborhood, he finds out Reva has been killed due to Stryker's gang actions.

Luke Cage takes on the gangs, defeats Stryker and pretty much single handedly fixes his community. He hands out business cards as a Hero for Hire, does tons of pro-bono work, too. Overnight, becoming a sensation, coming to SHIELD attention and media attention and everything.

For this story to stay as one film, fixing the community needs to be cut. Beat up Diamondback and the gang. Can't get too much attention otherwise he will be looked into. AIM has been scouring the city looking for Cage so they would be the first to pick up on what's happening. Cage may be on SHIELD's radar but AIM takes grabs him before SHIELD can respond.

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This brings him to the attention of AIM, who dispatches a collar controlled Wrecking Crew to bring him down or in, and they are more than happy to oblige.

Wrecker finds Cage's business card, and the Wrecking Crew makes sure he gets plenty of business, setting him up and beating him senseless in unison.

Brought back to the prison, Cage is bereft, and with nothing left, goes about his prison duties in a depressed state. He continues working out, using very large things to do so.

The Wrecking Crew enacts their master plan, as Enforcers for AIM, to steal the adamantine rod (crowbar-like) that AIM had recovered from Asgard somehow.

Personally I hate the crowbar thing in the comics but it's not a sticking point. Can we make AIM send Crew out to do something? AIM was experimenting on these guys for a reason, right? Wrecking Crew should be sent on a "mission" to retrieve something for AIM. Crew still wear the collars so they end up back in prison when they complete the job. They would prefer not to have them but they haven't devised a way to get them off yet.

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Bernstein encourages Luke Cage to act, at which point Burnstein helps facilitate an escape, which gets Burnstein killed, and Tarleton crippled.

Cage, with a yellow T-Shirt and black jeans, mounts a rescue on his old neigherhood to stop the Wrecking Crew from detonating a bomb there.

Instead of the bomb, this should be the job AIM wants them to do. We've already seen the neighborhood. They should end up somewhere, like a construction site. Big things to hit each other with to show off their strength and durability. Also stays true to Crew's weapons of choice from the comics. Can't stray too far from their comic origins or someone will claim to be their biggest fan and get all pissy.

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Cage uses everything he knows about them to throw them off balance, and his superior strength to keep them on edge. He takes on the two minor ones first, at the same time. Then he faces the Dr, whom he bests verbally more than physically before going head to head against Wrecker and his uber crowbar

After defeating the Wrecking Crew, SHIELD steps in, and the AIM prison is shut down. We see Cage on trial, thanks to public defender Matthew Murdock and Assistant DA Jennifer Walters is unable to show sufficient evidence that the drugs/setup from the beginning was his, and he is exhonerated from breaking out of prison.

Our last shot is Cage, t-shirt and jeans, doing his press conference, just outside the courthouse, introducing himself to the world. "My name is Luke Cage. I'm the people's superhero. I do shootouts, hostage rescues, mad scientists, and world ending apocalypses. Book me now at HeroesforHire.com." "Mr. Cage, Mr. Cage! Did you say Heroes, plural?" "Yeah, I'm taking applications."

Boom. End Credits.

Post credits, we see, finally Cage opening up a storefront and then casually moving a car that is parked in his parking spot. That's when Fury shows up. Cage declines, for now...

A little weak, kinda like two movies at the moment, but that's what's in my head. I really do like the "I'm taking applications" line at the moment.

I love the taking applications line. It sets up potentially working with other heroes. I think Cage/Iron Fist/DareDevil/Punisher could work in a minor Avengers type film taking on a Kingpin like character. If not Kingpin himself, then maybe Purple Man who has manipulated himself into a crime lord role. Tie that into Jessica Jones and Misty Knight cop stuff.

Maybe Jessica Jones and Misty Knight could be in the gang crime unit. They are introduced during the Cage/Diamondback stuff in the first and second acts. They can be shown at the press conference at the end too. The prison is the focus of the film so there's not a lot of room for stuff outside of that. Depending on what's in the other films, these two could have recurring roles as police doing police stuff to help give them more story.

Purple Man could be an AIM experiment who influenced/mind controlled his way out of prison. Maybe he grabbed a couple other prisoners to be henchmen on his way out. These guys are created before the public figures out what's going on at the prison, but after Cage and Crew, so they have legitimate powers.

Diamondback doesn't have to be killed off. He could come back working for Purple Man on the street level. Cage beats him up... again... to figure out what's going on.

MODOK comes back as a Cap villain for AIM or something. Yeah, I don't know how where he fits either.

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Can't hurt my feelings. I don't read the comics so tell me what sucks or where I went wrong.